Back In Time
by Ron's Maroon Jumper
Summary: A Next Generation time travel fic with a plot! The kids find a broken Time-Turner and end up in 1995, when Harry's competing in the Triwizard Tournament. With their knowledge, can they change anything?
1. Broken Time Turners

I've always wanted to do a Time Travel fic with the Next Generation. This one has an actual plot to it and I have a vague outline of where it's heading. Hope you like it :)

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all recognisable characters and settings are the property of J.K. Rowling.

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**Chapter One: Broken Time-Turners**

_I need a place to hide something. I need a place to hide something. I need a place to hide something. _The third time James walked past the wall on the seventh floor corridor opposite the statue of Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach trolls ballet, a door materialised. He thrust it open, ushering Fred inside, whose arms were laden with boxes emblazoned with _WWW_.

'I can't believe Parkinson grassed on us,' James huffed, as he and Fred scanned the room for a place to hide the boxes of prank items.

Noah Parkinson was a sixth year Slytherin, who had it out for the entire Potter and Weasley clan all because of one tiny prank where James and Fred had turned his robes bright fuchsia. It wasn't just his robes either; they had done it to all of the Houses. Slytherin were turned fuchsia; Hufflepuff were turned neon green; Ravenclaw had turned orange. They hadn't bothered with the Gryffindors since it was their own House, but that turned out to be a rookie mistake; they knew then that the culprit(s) were in Gryffindor, and it wasn't even five minutes before they pinned it on James and Fred. They had done it, but that wasn't the point, and ever since then Parkinson and most of the Slytherins (or all of them) seemed to have a dislike for the Potters and Weasleys. James didn't see what all the fuss was about really; fuchsia wasn't a bad colour... on girls. It was definitely better than the dull green and silver. Fuchsia really made them sparkle, though that could have been the sparkles he and Fred had decided to add. Still it wasn't bad. It could have been worse; they could have vanished their robes entirely, and were planning on doing so until Louis, who had overheard their plans, pointed out that they didn't want to give the younger years, and themselves, nightmares.

'He's a git,' remarked Fred, sounding annoyed. James couldn't honestly blame him; it was his dad's things that were going to be destroyed if they got caught with them again.

'He's a humongous git,' James agreed, picking up random items and inspecting them as Fred arranged the boxes in his arms into a neat pile on the ground. 'It was just a harmless prank; we had the antidote. Did you see his face, though?'

Fred snorted. 'It was priceless; worth the months detention we got for it.'

James had to agree with that. It wasn't that they enjoyed detention, but when Noah Parkinson spewed everywhere, then fainted right into his own vomit, it really was priceless to watch. At the Hospital Wing, where he was taken to be looked at by Madam Wainscott, he had been given the antidote, which the Hospital Wing had a supply of in case of situations like this. As soon as Parkinson had woke up and stopped vomiting, he had immediately grassed on them, even though he had no solid proof that it had been either James or Fred who had slipped him a Puking Pastille and Fainting Fancy. It could have been anyone with a supply of the sweets (which it could have been since a majority of the students had their own stash, despite it being banned from the school). But because James and Fred were related to the creator and owner of the shop, they had been blamed automatically. It was them, but still it was just like the robes fiasco all over again.

'It's lucky this room still works after the fire Dad told us about,' James commented as he held up a gold necklace in front of his eyes to get a better look at it. Maybe he could give it to one of his cousins, or his sister, for their birthday...

'It must be the magic of the - What's the matter with you?' Fred turned to look at James, who gasped loudly, his eyes wide and a wide smile breaking out on his face. 'What's that?'

'It's a Time-Turner,' James said slowly, his eyes shining with excitement.

**. . .**

'Weasleys and Potters,' James yelled in the middle of the crowded Gryffindor common room. Each of his siblings and cousins turned to look at him, some looking expectant, others looking annoyed at the disruption. 'Everyone here? Good. Right, family meeting now.'

The Weasley and Potter clan exchanged puzzled looks with each other, all of them wondering what this could possibly be about now, but, nevertheless, followed James and Fred up to the fifth year boys' dorm.

When the door was shut and privacy spells were erected (whenever they held meetings like this, Callum Hiddlestone had a habit of eavesdropping on them, despite being hexed on several different occasions by various members of the large clan), Rose turned to the two boys. 'What is this about then?'

Pausing for a dramatic effect, much to their family's irritation, James and Fred took a step towards them, both sporting wide smirks.

'We've found something,' Fred announced, gesturing to himself and James.

Lily arched a ginger eyebrow. 'And?'

'It's not something stupid, is it?' Hugo questioned with a sigh. James was slightly offended at this; none of the things he and Fred had ever found had ever been stupid, unless they counted the stick James found in the Burrow when he was six, thinking it was the Elder Wand from their parents stories. In James' defence, he had been six-years-old; how was he to know that it was just an ordinary stick? 'I mean, I found a rock today out by the lake but I didn't feel the need to hold a family meeting about it.'

Albus coughed to hide his laughter as James and Fred glared at the two of them. None of them had any faith in him or Fred.

Rolling his eyes, James shoved his hand in his pocket, emptying its contents all over Fred's bed, until he found what he was looking for. He held up the gold Time Turner for them all to see. The sunlight beaming in through the open curtains reflected off the gold item, causing them to shield their eyes slightly.

'That's a Time-Turner,' Rose stated unnecessarily, her eyes widening. She rounded on the two boys, a stern look on her face that made her look scarily like her mother. 'Where did you get it from? You better not have done something that'll get you expelled; you already have a months worth of detentions for that stunt you pulled on Noah Parkinson! The parents are already going to go mental over that.'

Fred gasped loudly, plastering a look of mock-terror on his face. 'Oh no, not the parents! Someone save us!' He rolled his eyes. 'Rosie, we found it fair and square. Finders keepers and all that, right?'

'Where _did _you get it from?' Albus asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously. James shook his head; there was no faith whatsoever in him. It wasn't as though they stole it from someone's bedside cabinet. It was in the Room of Requirement, probably been there for a while, so it wasn't stealing... Well it was, but James highly doubted anyone was going to miss it otherwise they never would have left it there for anyone to take in the first place.

'Well...' James began rocking backward and forward on the heels of his feet, attempting his best innocent expression. 'We may have found it intheroomofrequirement -'

'In English, please,' Lucy demanded impatiently.

'Room of Requirement,' Fred drawled out slowly as though he were talking to a five-year-old. With his eyes shining with excitement, he added, 'So, where shall we go? We have four years to choose from, so choose wisely.'

'What were you doing in the Room of Requirement?' Albus inquired.

'Just full of questions today, aren't you?' Fred muttered, more to himself than anyone in particular. 'We were hiding the items from Dad's shop, if you must know.'

'Now, where to, guys?' James asked, grinning.

'We can't use this!' Rose burst out, lunging forward to grab the Time-Turner from James but he was too quick, and too tall; he raised his arm higher out of her reach. 'James!'

'Like Fred said it's ours; finders keepers.'

'That doesn't mean you can keep it!' Rose argued, her voice rising. 'Time-Turner's aren't even legal to use unless given permission from the Ministry of Magic, and I seriously doubt they've given you two morons permission to go jumping through time!'

'Ouch,' said Fred. 'That hurt, Rosie.'

'You can't use it!' Rose said indignantly. 'It's against the law. You should hand it in.'

'Why?' James demanded angrily. 'Think of what we could do with it?'

'Exactly! Wizards who mess with time risk so much. Imagine if you kill your past self -'

'That won't happen,' James interrupted.

Rose rolled her eyes. 'And what makes you so sure?'

'Because I'm not stupid enough to do that -' Rose let out a loud snort, causing James to glare at her. 'I'm not! I actually like living, you know. I wouldn't do anything to ruin that.'

'It's not a game to play with time, James,' Rose hissed.

'Don't be such a spoilsport; you always ruin everything,' James shot out fiercely. No matter what they did, Rose always had to ruin everything; she was such a stickler for the rules. Her idea of fun was spending time in the library. To James, and most people, that wasn't fun.

Rose opened her mouth to retaliate, taking a step towards her cousin, but Al got there first, both hands outstretched to keep the pair at bay.

'Both of you stop it,' he commanded. He turned to James and Fred. 'Rose _is _right - it's against the law. Aunt Hermione works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, remember?'

'Exactly!' Rose looked triumphant. 'She can get you arrested if you use it!'

'Nah, she wouldn't,' Fred remarked lazily.

'Yeah,' James agreed fervently. 'She'd never grass up her family.' As much as Aunt Hermione was similar to Rose where rules were concerned, she would never do anything to get a member of her family arrested. Not only had all the parents taught their children that family is the most important thing, but there was also the fact that they were all famous; none of them would subject themselves to the humiliation that a member of their family had broken the law.

'Erm, not to burst anyone's bubble or anything, but it's broken.'

Fred rounded on Louis. 'How do you know that?'

'Here.' Louis failed to hide his amusement as he pointed at the button on the side. 'See?' Louis pressed the button, causing the entire room to spin and shake violently, knocking them all to the ground.

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This chapter was quite short, I know, but the next one will be longer. This is just the introduction of how they got sent to the past. I really hope you liked it. Please don't forget to review and let me know what you thought of it, and whether I ought to continue. :)


	2. Blast to the Past

Sorry for the wait on this chapter; I've been really sick, so haven't had much of a chance to write anything, which is why the updates for my other stories are slow too. Thanks so much to Swishly, NotInWonderland, MidnightBeast1098, and ForeverAndADayJustReadAway for your reviews. They're much appreciated. Thanks to everyone who place this story on their favourites or alerts, too :)

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**Chapter Two: Blast to the Past**

Rose had never been so terrified in her life. Sure she'd had those heart-stopping moments of terror when she spotted a spider scuttling across the carpet, or when she was first learning to fly and would descend do quickly she thought she was going to slip off and meet her untimely death. But this was indescribable terror.

The room was spinning, trembling violently like an earthquake. Rose felt sick to her stomach. If there was one thing Rose hated it was being spun around and it had all started when she was nine. While their parents had been celebrating their wedding anniversary, Rose and Hugo had gone to stay the weekend with their Muggle grandparents. After much begging on their part, Rose and Hugo had finally managed to convince their grandparents to take them to the fairground around the corner, the one they used to take their mother to when she was a young girl. Rose had heard stories about it, seen pictures of it, and really wanted to go. Finally she had; she'd never been so excited before. Then came the time for the Waltzer, the ride she had been most excited for, since she thought it made her a big girl to go on it. The ride hadn't even been going for thirty seconds before Rose threw up the contents in her stomach, spraying Hugo with vomit, which he claimed changed his life forever. Rose thought he was being a tad bit dramatic, which wasn't entirely unusual for Hugo.

With one final jolt, causing Rose to launch forward with such force that she slammed into the floor head first, the room stopped spinning, and her stomach stopped squirming.

'Ow,' Louis groaned somewhere from Rose's left.

'Is everyone all right?' Lucy asked calmly. To this day, it amazed Rose just how calm Lucy could be in any situation, even one like this when God only knows what had just happened to them, but that was how Lucy was. Unlike most of their family (and Rose had to admit she was one of them), Lucy wasn't one to panic. It didn't matter what the situation was, whether it was simply revising for exams or accidentally getting lost in London at the age of eight, Lucy would never lose her head (luckily, they had found her sitting on the grass in Hyde Park, eating her cheese sandwiches as if nothing had happened). It was something Rose greatly admired in her.

'Ask me again tomorrow,' James grunted. 'Some of the swelling might have gone down then...'

'W-w-what happened?' Lily asked fearfully.

'I'm not sure,' Al murmured, inching closer to his little sister.

'It felt like - like an earthquake,' said Roxy uncertainly.

With her bones protesting from the sudden movement, Rose pushed herself off the ground, groaning as she did so. Looking around, she saw her brother and cousins all looking just as terrified as she felt, a few of them nursing injuries; Hugo was rubbing his forehead where an angry red mark had starting to form, no doubt from whacking his head on the hard floor of the dormitory from the sudden jolt, just as Rose had done; Al was using his right arm to support his left, rubbing his elbow; Roxanne was holding her ankle, grimacing at the touch. The others, while looking incredibly shaken, all looked all right.

'It might be the concussion I think I've got, but does this room look different than it did five minutes ago?' Fred asked, looking baffled as he surveyed the room. He went over to the bed - his bed - and picked up the book on his cabinet. He held it up so that everyone could see the title: _Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties._ 'This, for example - this is not mine. I've never even seen this before.'

'I'm betting you've never seven see a -

'W-who are you?' a timid voice said from behind them, cutting off what Roxy had been saying. All nine of them turned around to face the dormitory door, which was wide open, revealing a short, round-faced boy who looked eerily similar to their Herbology Professor, who weighed a few pounds heavier. A part of Rose's brain was trying to tell her this was impossible, but here was the proof right in front of her.

'Guys,' James said slowly, 'is that who I think that is?' All of them had seen the photos of their parents and their friends during their time at Hogwarts.

'Uh-huh,' Al confirmed, nodding his head; his eyes were wide and he wasn't blinking for fear of missing something, as though what he was seeing wasn't real. Rose thought it looked quite painful to go so long without blinking; she couldn't go two seconds without her eyes burning.

'I'm confused,' Lily piped up.

'Me too,' said Roxy, rounding on Louis fiercely. 'Just what did you do?'

Louis crossed his arms over his chest. 'Nothing,' he said defiantly.

'You must have done. Look,' James gestured to the bewildered-looking Neville Longbottom. 'If you did nothing, then how is he here, or how are we here, or whatever the hell happened?'

'You wanted to use it,' Louis reminded him.

'Yeah, but up to four years in the past, not this much!'

'In three?' Rose knew exactly what Fred meant.

'No.' Lucy's voice was sharp and Rose could hear a crack in her calm facade, which did nothing at all to help her. Rose's heart began sprinting in anticipation. 'Now!'

As though the dormitory was on fire, all nine of them stampeded towards the door. Rose had expected her Professor (it was still weird to think of him like that when he looked her age) to move out of the way, but he didn't; he stood frozen to the spot, watching them with wide eyes that held what Rose recognised as fear and confusion, his mouth was hanging open so much that Rose could see his uvula hanging down. She winced, momentarily closing her eyes, as Fred hurtled right into poor Neville, knocking him to the ground, and leaping over him, his legs narrowly missing Neville's face, which he was attempting to shield with his arms.

'Sorry,' Fred called sheepishly over his shoulder as he continued sprinting down the corridor.

'Heads down,' Lucy shouted at them as they entered the crowded Gryffindor common room. It was just their luck that they had an audience. If they were where Rose thought they were then they were going to be in big trouble if anyone found out about them - their true identities, that is. They'd already been seen by Neville and an entire common room.

Following Lucy and Fred, who seemed to be in the lead, they dashed across the common room, through the portrait hole, down the corridor, past several annoyed students, who didn't seem to appreciate James and Fred pushing past them in their haste to get to the empty corridor, right across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy attempting to teach trolls ballet, where the entrance to the Room of Requirement was. Rose could have sighed with relief if she wasn't afraid of being caught in those crucial moments where James walked back and forth thrice in front of the empty wall. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion to Rose; James appeared to be taking a step each minute. It was making her more nervous.

'Hurry!' Rose's voice was bordering on hysterical. If there was one thing her mother had taught her about time travel, it was that they couldn't allow themselves to be seen... and they had. It was bad enough that Neville had seen them, but an entire common room had watched as nine strangers ran wildly through, their heads bowed. Knowing how the school worked, Rose would not be surprised if everyone knew about them by now.

The door finally appeared and they all raced inside, breathing heavily as though they had just ran a marathon. When the door shut behind Louis, Rose sank down to the ground, clutching at her chest, willing for her heart to slow down.

'Well that was fun,' Fred muttered, doubled over as he tried to catch his breath.

'It was your idea,' Roxy reminded him. 'You and James. You were the two that found it and the ones who wanted to go for a joyride to the past, no one else.'

'Thank you,' James snapped. 'But as I told you not five minutes ago, we wanted to go up to four years back to play a joke on our parents, not to wherever the hell we are now.' James frowned. 'Where are we, anyway?'

'Judging by the look on _Professor Longbottom _we're in the nineties,' Al said frantically. 'Back to when our parents were in school! You idiots! You couldn't have just left the Time-Turner where you found it, could you?'

James glared at his little brother. 'Why are you blaming us? Louis was the one who pressed the button. If it's anyone's fault as to why we're here, it would be his.'

'I only pointed out that the Time-Turner was broken,' Louis defended himself. 'I didn't know it would take us to the past by pressing it, did I? Normal Time-Turners don't work like that.'

'But this wasn't a normal Time-Turner,' Rose told them, remembering all the things her mother had told her when it came to time travel. 'It was a broken one. Don't you listen to what Mum told you all; broken Time-Turners are unpredictable. That's why you don't touch them,' she added with a glare at James and Fred.

'How were we meant to know it was broken?' Fred questioned hotly.

'Common sense,' Al retorted scathingly. 'You don't think; you never do.' Rose had to agree with her cousin on that, they didn't think. There were too many incidents to count that could back up their claim. But out of everything, this was definitely the worst stunt they'd pulled. Messing with time was a dangerous thing under normal circumstances, but they were back to when their parents were in school. There was no telling what they had landed themselves into.

'What do we do now?' Hugo asked.

An idea struck Rose. They were in the past with no way back unless they received help, but it was finding who to help them which was the problem. She had an idea, and was praying he would believe them rather than mistake them for Death Eaters.

'We're in the nineties, right?' Eight heads nodded. 'Then Dumbledore has to be around. Aren't our parents always telling us he's the most powerful wizard around? If anyone can help us, it'll be him, right? He'll be able to find a way to send us back somehow.' Rose was glad to hear her voice didn't break; she was more afraid than she'd let on. If Dumbledore couldn't send them back, then she doubted there was anyone alive who could, and it was that thought that caused Rose's blood to run cold. They couldn't be stuck here, they just couldn't.

'There's just one problem with that Rose,' Louis said quietly, 'what if Dumbledore's dead? We have no way of knowing which part of the nineties we landed in.'

'He won't be,' Rose said with more confidence in her voice this time.

'How do you know that?'

'Did you see how young Neville looked? Dumbledore died when he was sixteen. He looks my age more than he does yours. No, Dumbledore is alive and possibly our only hope.'

'Rose is right,' Lucy agreed, sending her a reassuring smile that had the opposite effect on her. 'We have to go see Dumbledore and tell him what's happened.'

'Though, from the stories Dad told me about him, he might already know,' Al added. There was an excited edge to his voice and Rose had a suspicion of why.

'We can't all go - it'd look suspicious - so, who's going?' Rose asked, glancing sideways at Al.

'I think these two dimwits ought to stay,' Louis said with a nod at James and Fred.

'If we're staying then so are you,' James said. Fred nodded, both of them were glaring at Louis. Rose couldn't help but roll her eyes at how petulant they sounded.

'I'll stay to make sure they,' Roxy gestured to her brother and cousin with her thumb, 'don't do anything even more idiotic while whoever is going is gone.'

'Your vote of confidence in us is astounding,' Fred drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

'I'm your sister,' Roxy reminded him, grinning. 'I know _all _your tricks.'

'Luce, I think you ought to go,' Rose said to her. 'You're the oldest and the most mature, so he might listen to you more than he would anyone else. And you're quick on your feet, so if we come across a teacher or, even worse, our parents, you'll be able to make something up.'

'I don't think you ought to go alone, though,' Al piped up, his green eyes shining hopefully. 'It might not be a teacher you bump into in the hall. And if something happens, we won't know if you're all right or what's happened if you go alone. So, yeah...' he finished lamely.

Rose smiled knowingly. 'Why don't you go with her?' she suggested, knowing that it was one of his dreams to meet his namesake - _both _of them. At first Al had hated his full name with a passion, but Rose knew now that Al wasn't so opposed to it anymore, not after he'd heard the _entire _story of what their parents had to go through to get to where they were now.

'Why don't the three of you go?' James said, sounding rather put out. Though she wasn't facing him, Rose could sense he was rolling his eyes at them. 'Get out of our hair for a while...' he muttered under his breath, though he wasn't quiet enough for Rose not to hear.

'Okay, so that's settled then; me, Rose, and Al will go.' Lucy turned to James and Fred. 'Please don't do anything stupid while we're gone.'

'We won't,' Fred promised, though, to Rose, it didn't sound sincere.

'This is important, Fred, you cannot be seen, and you _cannot _do anything that might change the course of history, otherwise we might not be born.'

'Don't be so dramatic -'

'She's not,' Rose said quietly. 'Even the smallest of things might change history. It's important you stay in here while we're gone. Don't let anyone, especially not your parents, see you.'

'What about you three?' James demanded. 'What if you three change something while you're on your way to Dumbledore's office?'

'Out of all of us, who do you honestly think is going to mess up history more?'

James and Fred mashed their lips together, turned and walked away, picking up random items from the side of the room. Rose knew they were being a bit harsh on them, but it had been their fault they were in this mess. Though Rose was glad they had some common sense to try and include them before they decided to go jumping through time. Rose shuddered to think what would have happened if they had ended up here alone. She loved them both, but they were idiots at the best of times. All it could take is one careless, idiotic moment for the pair of them to wipe them all from history.

**. . .**

'What do you think the password is?' Rose heard Lucy ask from her left as they stared at the unmoving gargoyle. They had been stood outside the entrance to the Headmaster's office for five minutes, attempting to solve the password, but with no success.

'Al, do you have any idea?' Rose asked desperately, glancing down the corridor for any signs of movement. Time really wasn't on their side, and as each minute passed by, they risked getting exposed more and more.

'Um...' Al's brow furrowed as he thought hard. 'Dad told me that all his passwords were sweet-related since he had a fondness for them, but I don't know which it would be, and there could be hundreds of possibilities.'

'It narrows it down, though,' Lucy told him. She turned to the gargoyle. 'Chocolate Frogs.'

The gargoyle remained motionless.

'Sugar Quills,' Rose tried, but with the same amount of success as Lucy had.

'Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.'

'He doesn't like them,' Al said suddenly. 'I just remembered...'

'Acid Pops.'

'Cockroach Cluster.'

Surprisingly, the gargoyle sprang to life.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. '_That's _his password. They're horrible.'

'Dumbledore must like them,' Al shrugged. He took a deep breath, glancing down the hallway just as Rose had done, before stepping hesitantly onto the spiralling staircase that led the way to the Head's office.

Rose had only ever been in the Head's office once before, but it wasn't because she had been in trouble, but that wasn't to say she was a goody-two shoes and never got into trouble - she'd had detention several times, in fact, but did nothing like her cousins that would warrant a visit to the Headmistress, as it were back in their time. No, the only time she had ever been was because her parents had wanted to show her around during one of their many visits to the school before Rose had even began attending. She had seen the portraits lining the walls, some of them had even applauded as her parents had entered, for reasons which Rose had no idea about until she was eleven. As they neared the top of the stairs, the wooden door coming into her line of sight, Rose's heart began racing again. She was about to meet the man her parents had told her bedtime stories about, the person her cousin had been named for, the legendary Albus Dumbledore.

Al was the first one to reach the top and, much to Rose's surprise, he faltered as he brought his hand up to knock on the door. He turned to face her, looking frantic.

'What do we say to him?' he whispered.

'Leave that to me,' Lucy told him calmly. 'Just knock.'

Al nodded once; Rose could tell he was nervous, even _she _was and she hardly ever got nervous anymore. But this was _the _Albus Dumbledore; other than her Uncle Harry, he was known as one of the most powerful wizards ever to have lived. It was rather daunting that she was going to meet him any moment now. She watched as Al raise his hand again and tapped quickly on the door before wiping his clammy hands on his trousers. Rose was about to tell him to knock again when a kind voice from behind the door instructed them to enter.

'Go on,' Lucy whispered in Al's ear.

Rose watched him take a deep breath before pushing the door open. The office was different to the one Rose had seen, but at the same time it was exactly the same. It was one of the only rooms in the entire castle that hadn't needed rebuilding. The only additions Rose could see were the gold instruments lying on Dumbledore's desk - to Rose, they looked quite painful, but at the same time she was eager to learn more about them, and would do if the situation wasn't so dire - and the scarlet and gold Phoenix, which was gawking at them from behind the desk. Rose had heard stories about Dumbledore's pet Phoenix, but she had never seen one before, other than in books she'd read as a child. Fawkes was more beautiful than she could have ever imagined.

And then there was Dumbledore. He was sitting behind his desk, wearing matching robes and hat of a deep purple, and half-moon spectacles, which concealed brilliant blue eyes behind them. As soon as they entered, his eyes darted straight to them. Rose felt like she was being X-rayed and shuddered, moving closer to Lucy instinctively.

'I know every student who has passed through these halls since I became Headmaster,' began Dumbledore, his eyes narrowing as he peered at them over his glasses, causing Rose to feel more nervous than she had done before, 'but I do not recognise you three. Who do we have here then?' His question was more for himself than it was for them.

'Professor Dumbledore - sir,' Lucy started, sounding nervous. She glanced quickly at Rose and Al, before turning back to Dumbledore, clearing her throat. She squared her shoulders, set her jaw, and said, rather bluntly in Rose's mind, 'We're from the future. Our cousins found a Time-Turner that should have sent us four years back, but it sent us at least twenty years back instead. The thing is, our Time-Turner is broken, and we have no idea how we got here in the first place, let alone how to get back home, so we need your help, Professor Dumbledore.'

As Lucy explained their situation, Dumbledore moved around the front of his desk to stand right in front of them. He didn't look particularly shocked at this revelation, though Rose assumed he had seen and heard so much in his life already that a bit of time travel wasn't uncommon to him as it would be to her. His blue eyes roamed over each of their faces, soaking up all he could of their features, no doubt trying to work out who they could possibly be related to. His lips turned up into a small smile as his gaze lingered on Al and Rose. Rose's parents had told her how fond Dumbledore had been of them and Uncle Harry, especially Uncle Harry, when they had all been students here.

'I see,' Dumbledore said casually as though he had just been told about the weather. 'Worry not, dear child; if you can travel here, there must be a way for you to travel back.' He turned to Al. 'I assume, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you must a Potter; you look uncannily smilar to one who currently attends Hogwarts, who, again if I'm not mistaken, must be your father.'

Al smiled and nodded. 'I'm Albus Potter,' he said proudly. 'Harry Potter is my father.'

'Albus...'

'I was named after you... and Professor Snape.'

This seemed to shock Dumbledore. 'Professor Snape?'

'Yeah, Dad said he was the bravest man he'd ever known.'

'I'm assuming Harry knows the truth then?'

Al nodded again. 'Yeah...'

Dumbledore nodded once before turning to Rose. 'And you must be a Weasley. The red hair is an unmistakable trait. And given the time frame, if I'm not mistaken, your parents are here at this moment as well.'

Rose grinned at him. 'I'm Rose Weasley. My parents are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.'

A knowing smile crossed Dumbledore's lips, his eyes twinkling away. Rose couldn't help but continue to grin at him. Her Uncle George had told her how they'd been betting on when her parents would figure out they liked each other and when they'd eventually get together. It had been Bill who'd won that bet. Even old Professor McGonagall, who was an old family friend and the previous Headmistress before Babbling, had been at their wedding, and told Rose and Hugo numerous stories about their parents many arguments when they'd been students, and how they had all known they'd get together at some point.

'Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger... hm...' He turned to Lucy next. 'And you said cousins earlier while referring to your predicament. I'm assuming you are somehow related to Miss Weasley?'

'I'm Lucy Weasley,' she introduced herself. 'My dad is Percy and my mum is Audrey Morgan in Ravenclaw.' Lucy paused, frowning. 'I'm not exactly sure what year we're in, sir.'

'It is March twenty-third, ninety ninety-five,' Dumbledore informed them.

Al gasped loudly, his eyes widening to the size of a Galleon. 'March of ninety-five... That must mean the Triwizard Tournament is still going on... That means my Dad hasn't finished it yet... That means _he's _not back yet! We have to stop it! We have to do something!'

'Al...' Rose began, but he cut her off.

'No! We can't let him finish the Tournament, Rose!' Al looked wildly at Dumbledore. 'Please, Professor, you can't let my dad finish. If he does, Voldemort will return!'

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I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you think :)


	3. Chance to Change

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**Hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

_'No! We can't let him finish the Tournament, Rose!' Al looked wildly at Dumbledore. 'Please, Professor, you can't let my dad finish. If he does, Voldemort will return!'_

**Chapter Three: Chance to Change**

It had been almost twenty-three years since the war had ended, where hundreds fought with all their might to bring Voldemort's downfall, where just over fifty people sadly perished in the final battle that had taken place at Hogwarts, destroying half the castle in the process. Uncle Fred and Teddy's parents had been three names on the list of fatalities to have been slain that night. For most people, May the second was a cause for celebration, but more than that, sadness and remembrance for all those who had given their lives for the cause.

Al knew all about it now, of course, being the son of one of the most famous wizards alive. As much as his parents attempted to shelter him, James, and Lily from their past, from everything connected to the war, once they all began attending Hogwarts, it proved to be more difficult since everyone had heard of how the famous Harry Potter had finally defeated the dark wizard, Voldemort. Even the Muggle-borns had heard of him.

What they didn't know, however, were the things in between. They had no idea what his dad, aunt, and uncle had been through to get to the point they were now - what his entire family had to sacrifice. Al knew everything, or at least a version of these events, from the moment his dad became friends with Aunt Hermione as they fought a fully grown mountain troll together with Uncle Ron, to how he had slain a Basilisk and saved his mum, to have he managed to break into Gringotts only to escape on the back of a dragon.

They had all suffered because of the war, more than people should have to in a lifetime. One of the lessons Al had been taught over the years was how unfair life could be, but it just didn't seem right to him that his grandparents had to live without a son, that his mum and uncles had to live without their brother, and Teddy had to live without his parents. If they could prevent it, shouldn't it be a good thing? And that was the reason Al said what he had said. He knew it was going to be dangerous, but he wanted to know his uncle, he wanted his parents, uncles and aunts, his cousins, grandparents, and Teddy to be happy. It was great they fought a war they strongly believed in so that the future generations wouldn't have to lose as much as they had, but it just didn't seem fair to Al that they all had to suffer for it, especially his dad.

It was a couple of minutes before Dumbledore finally spoke, breaking the silence. 'Voldemort returns, you say?' The twinkle in his electric blue eyes had vanished entirely. He looked rather disturbed at the bombshell, but Al supposed he would; it wasn't everyday you're told that the darkest wizard since Grindelwald was going to return in a mere matter of months.

'Yeah... at the end of the Third Task.' Al was surprised at how croaky his voice sounded, but he cleared his throat and continued. 'He returns and it gets bad. Real bad.'

'Al,' Rose began again, a hint of warning in her voice. But as he had done before, Al cut her off.

'Rosie, we have to stop it from happening! Think about what we can do, _who_ we can save! We have the chance to meet our uncle, to make certain he survives this time! We have the chance to stop our parents and grandparents from going through this heartbreak. And Teddy - we can give him the chance to know his parents. It doesn't have to end the way it did!'

With a glance at Dumbledore, Rose grabbed Al's sleeve and dragged him over to the corner.

'Meddling with time is dangerous,' she reminded him in a strained but hushed voice. 'What if, by revealing what happens in the future, we're stopping one of us from being born? Or what if we're stopping my mum and dad from getting together, or your mum and dad, or what if, just say we do end up saving Uncle Fred, what if Aunt Angelina marries him instead of George?'

'I _know_!' Al ran a hand through his hair and messed it up in a very James-like manner; his dad did it on occasion when he was stressed. 'I know, Rose, but I _can't _not do anything to change it. I don't want our parents to go through everything they did. I don't want Uncle Fred to die.'

Rose placed her hand on Al's upper arm. Her face has softened. 'I know you do. I do too. I wish we could have seen Uncle Fred the way our parents describe him. I wish Teddy's parents were alive. I wish the war never happened either, but we can't change the future, otherwise they would have done it all those years ago instead. I know it's not fair, but that's the way it is.'

'It doesn't have to be that way, though,' Al all but shouted. Rose glared at him and he dropped his voice to a furious whisper. 'We can make a better future for all of us, one that has Uncle Fred, Teddy's parents, and my dad's godfather in it. We can even save Dumbledore! Doesn't that sound like a better future to you?'

'Al,' Rose murmured, 'I would love to live in a world like that, but we can't mess with time, no matter how much we want to. It would be selfish of us to change it.'

'What's selfish about it?' Al demanded. He couldn't understand why Rose wasn't jumping at the opportunity for them to save their uncle, to make their future even better. They had talked about it before, and though it was just a fantasy then, it wasn't now.

'Because if we change it so that these people survive, then what about the Death Eaters? They end up surviving too, where there's a chance they go out and kill someone else, someone who is completely innocent, someone who didn't die in our world, someone who is the parent of one of our friends. There's so many possibilities, Al.'

'Not necessarily, though. We can tell Dumbledore, and the Order, and they can sort it out.'

'The Order hasn't been formed yet,' Rose tried to tell him.

'They can form it again!' Al said desperately.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, taking a deep breath in through his nose and out through is mouth to calm himself. It could all work out for the best, he was telling himself, trying to convince himself. He had it all worked out in his head. He knew they could do it with all the knowledge they had. He opened his eyes again, eyes that were the same as his dad and late grandmother. Out of everything that made up who he was, it was his eyes that Al loved the most. All his cousins, and his brother and sister, had brown or blue eyes, but he was the only one with green. It was one thing that set him apart from the others, with the exception of Teddy, who could have any eye colour he wanted, though he tended to stick with grey, which Al had been told was Teddy's dad's eye colour.

'Rose, I know it's risky, all right, but we can do this. I _know _we can.' There was something new to his voice as he spoke again, a new kind of conviction that, in all honesty, sort of scared him and, by the way her eyes widened, he could tell it caught Rose off guard, too. He'd never been this passionate about anything before, not even in Transfiguration which was his favourite subject. Normally, in class, he faded to the background, though his talent was undeniable. He wasn't a bad student, but he excelled in Transfiguration more so than any other class.

Just as Rose was about to open her mouth, Lucy came up to them, looking exasperated.

'What _are _you two doing over here?' She glanced back at Dumbledore, who was watching the three of them in the corner with interest. 'I have no idea what to say to him.'

'Al wants us to change what's going to happen,' Rose explained quietly. When she put it like that, it did sound sort of ridiculous, but not entirely impossible. He may only be fourteen, but he had more knowledge about the future events than anyone in this time. With his cousins all together (well half of them, Al mentally corrected), they could do it. He was sure of it.

'Well he's already let something crucial slip out,' Lucy said with a sigh. 'There's not much we can do about that now. We just have to make sure nothing else that's important slips out, unintended or intended,' she added pointedly at Al. 'We can't change too much.'

'All we have to do is make sure the Triwizard Cup isn't a Portkey this time around,' Al said.

'You make it sound so simple when you put it like that,' Rose noted dryly.

'That's because it is,' Al whispered, ignoring the sarcasm he detected in her voice. 'If we can stop that from happening, then my dad won't be sent to the graveyard with Cedric Diggory, then he won't meet Pettigrew, won't have to watch Cedric die, won't have to have his blood forcibly taken to resurrect Voldemort, then he can't come back, and then everything will be fine.'

Rose and Lucy exchanged glances as Al watched them both, his heart racing inside his chest.

Finally, Lucy said, 'Like I said, there's not much we can do now that Dumbledore knows about it, and we have no way of getting home right now since the Time-Turner only goes back in time and not forward, but if things get out of hand, we'll have to erase their memories.'

'You think you can erase Dumbledore's memory?' Rose looked skeptical, and Al had to agree; they had all been told stories about the powerful Albus Dumbledore.

'If someone can get past his age line, then someone can erase his memory,' Lucy replied with a shrug. 'It'll be worth a try. Besides, according to Aunt Ginny, he's good at keeping secrets.' She turned to look at Al. 'I hope you know what you've started.'

'Would you believe me if I told you it just slipped out?'

'We know,' Lucy said quietly, shooting him a small smile. 'But what's done is done.'

The three of them turned around and shuffled back over to where Dumbledore was standing, waiting patiently for them to finish their hushed conversation. His namesake was peering at them, his electric blue eyes roaming their faces, an expressionless mask on his face. It made Al feel uneasy. He wished Dumbledore would make it more obvious what he was thinking. Did he believe them? Was he considering booking them each a bed in the Spell Damage ward in St. Mungo's for this outrageous insinuation that Voldemort was going to return to power?

'Professor,' Rose spoke up, sounding rather nervous, 'when Voldemort returns, there's a war...' Dumbledore held up his hand, causing Rose to trail off.

'Miss Weasley, It would be most beneficial if you do not reveal too much of the future.'

Rose nodded, but before she had a chance to say anything more, Al said in a solemn voice, 'If what our parents told us is true, this war was worse than the first one. Over fifty people died in the final battle alone from our side.'

'But it has ended in your time, has it not?' Dumbledore asked.

'Yes,' Lucy nodded. 'On May second, nineteen ninety-eight, Uncle Harry finally defeated him.'

Dumbledore's lips turned up into a ghost of a smile as Lucy spoke. His blue eyes were shining with what Al recognised to be pride.

'He finally does it.' It was more of a statement than a question, but they all nodded anyway.

'Yeah...'

'May I enquire as to how old the three of you are?'

'I'm seventeen,' Lucy told him. 'Those two are fourteen.'

'I'm afraid I cannot take the word of two underage teenagers. That being said, the matter can be resolved quite simply if you do not object,' Dumbledore said, looking regretfully at Lucy.

'What will it require, sir?'

'A glance into your memories using Legilimency. As you two are underage, I cannot perform it on you,' he said to Al and Rose. Al was pretty grateful for that, actually. His dad had told him a little bit about his own attempt to learn Occlumency when he was fifteen, and how it felt to have someone attack his mind. It didn't sound pleasant at all, and Al felt quite sorry for Lucy.

Lucy bit down hard on her bottom lip and Al was sure she was going to draw blood. But, being Lucy, she nodded and said, 'Okay, I'll do it.' She swallowed hard and Al could tell she was nervous about the idea of having the powerful Headmaster dive through her memories.

Dumbledore withdrew his wand from his robes. 'This will only take a moment,' he said, but Lucy didn't look all that assured. Her entire body was tense.

Both Al and Rose exchanged glances as they watched Lucy's eyes become unfocused. It lasted, as Dumbledore had said, only a moment, and when they both returned, there was a thoughtful expression on Dumbledore's face as he glanced between the three time-travellers. Even though he knew they were telling the truth, and that there was no way Dumbledore was going to believe otherwise, but Al was still nervous. He wished Dumbledore would say something, but as the older wizard placed his wand back inside his robes, Al took that as a good sign. At least they weren't being bound with ropes and sent to the dungeons.

**. . .**

'What do you think is going on with the other three?' James asked lazily from where he was currently sprawled on a soft couch that had appeared when he suddenly felt the need to sit.

'I 'unno,' Fred shrugged, his mouth full of the Chocolate Frogs he had stashed in his pocket.

'They've been gone over an hour,' Louis remarked. 'Do you think Dumbledore believes them?'

Fred shrugged again and glanced at the card. He rolled his eyes and threw it across the room. 'Slughorn _again_. It's like they make more of his cards each time just to annoy us.'

Each of the Weasley and Potter children had met the previous Potions Master, Horace Slughorn at one of the memorial services they attended. Slughorn, who had fought alongside them, was as power-hungry as they could get. He loved having connections with anyone remotely famous, which meant he tried to suck up to anyone with the surname Potter or Weasley. That was how he had managed to acquire the nickname Suck-Up Slughorn, not that he knew about it, of course. Thankfully, he had retired before James had began attending Hogwarts, though Teddy claimed he never had to do much work in his class for the first two years Slughorn had taught him for, even though Teddy was horrendous at Potions.

Everyone who had fought in the Battle of Hogwarts - for the right side, of course - had been given an accolade of some sort. It had been James' dad's idea to give Slughorn a Chocolate Frog card entry just to shut him up about how the famous Harry Potter and his two best friends were currently the starring features on the cards. As the years passed, James' mum received her own card for her contributions to the war and as a female Quidditch star, as did each of his aunts and uncles who had fought too. The only aunt who didn't have a card was his Aunt Audrey, who, because she was a Muggle-born, had been in hiding for the duration of the war. Out of them all it was James' dad that hated having a Chocolate Frog card the most, but James thought it was pretty cool. It always brought a smile to his face when he opened the pack to find someone in his family scratching their noses.

'Oi,' he called out to his best friend and cousin.

'What?'

'Got anymore Frogs?'

Fred rummaged inside his pocket and brought out one. 'Yeah, just this one. Split it?'

'Sure.'

It was his Chaser skills that had him catching the half piece of chocolate Fred lobbed at him. He got the head. It used to freak James out that he was eating the head of a frog, even if it was just chocolate. He was a little ashamed to admit he had cried once when he was three because of it. It wasn't just a few tears here and there, he had actually been a blubbering mess and had to have his parents calm him down. His mum, much to his embarrassment, used to tell people that story at parties.

He had just finished munching on the delicious sweet when the door opened. James sat up quickly, his fingers curled around his wand. Now that they were in a different time, he had to be cautious. Contrary to popular belief among his family, he could be mature when needed, and he had to admit that coming this far back to the past wasn't at all what he expected so far. In fact, a part of him was a little afraid they wouldn't be able to make it back home, at least not until his dad heard about it, but there was no telling how long it would take.

To his relief, it was only his brother and cousins.

'You're back,' Roxanne said, walking over to them. 'Well? What did Dumbledore say?'

'He believes us,' Lucy replied.

Relief washed over James.

'That's good then,' Louis said, his shoulders visibly relaxing from where he was sat, crossed-legged, spinning a Galleon on the ground.

'But he doesn't know how he's going to do it yet,' Rose added. 'Time-Turners aren't exactly as advanced as they are where we come from.'

'So what's going to happen to us?' Lily asked rather fearfully. James felt a bit guilty that his twelve-year-old sister was stuck in the past with them, too. All of them knew his parents would murder him if anything happened to either Lily or Al. Then the aunts and uncles would murder him if anything happened to the rest. Sometimes having a reputation for being a prankster wasn't all that it cracked up to be since hardly anyone believe anything he said, even when he was telling the truth.

'We're going to visit Grandma.'

**. . .**

**2020**

'Harry,' an anxious voice called from behind him. It was a familiar voice. The voice of Neville Longbottom, an old friend, and current Herbology Professor at Hogwarts.

Setting his quill down on the kitchen table, where he had been in the middle of some reports for the newest trainees, Harry got out of his seat, and turned around to face the fireplace, where Neville's head was currently sticking out of. Once upon a time this simple act would have had Harry double taking, as would most things magical, but he was used to it now - there was always someone in his fireplace. If it wasn't a teacher, it was a family member, and there was quite a few of them. Harry dropped to his knees so that he was at an eye level with him.

'Harry,' Neville said, his voice quiet and solemn.

Harry sighed heavily, knowing this meant it wasn't a social call, but a call that one of his kids, no doubt the eldest one, had been caught doing something he ought not to have been doing. This was all too frequent for Harry and Ginny; at least twice a month they received an owl, or Neville would appear in the fireplace, to inform them of James' latest harebrained scheme. What with James and his cousin Fred attending the school, Harry was sure Neville was going to gray quite early on.

'What's he done now?' Harry asked wearily.

'I don't know how to tell you this, so I'm just going to say it outright, but the kids are missing.'

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**How did you like this chapter? I do feel as if I have to defend Albus Severus, because he is fourteen, and out of all the Next Gen kids, I always imagined him to be more sensitive and intuitive with people more than the others, not that they don't care, but he admires his dad more than anyone else so it's only a natural thing that he wants to save his family, especially his dad, the heartache the war provided. And then I feel like I have to defend Rose and Lucy, who took the more logical approach. It's not that they don't want to save them, to change the future for the better, but they doesn't want to risk themselves or their siblings and cousins from being born. It's a natural instinct to want to protect what you have.**

**Anyway, I've done enough rambling on here, and I'll leave you. Hope you liked this chapter! :D**


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